DA II What To Do
by rptifearogue
Summary: Tifea and Fenris have distanced themselves from Kirkwall and now are debating on what to do next.


"So what would you like to do now?"

"hmm… I think I want to go to Orlais."

"Really? But weren't they the ones that first conquered Ferelden?

"Yeah. But when we met Neria she told me all about the place! And Aveline had her honeymoon there and even she said it was beautiful."

"I see. So you just want to go somewhere… 'Beautiful'?"

"Well, I just want to go somewhere nice and not full of trouble for a while. Or at least until I get bored." What the Heck!

Fenris and Tifea have been walking for weeks away from the city of Kirkwall. This could have been caused by the fact that Tifea and her group became outlaws in Kirkwall, due to recent events; therefore staying there wasn't in their best interest. With everyone going their separate ways, except Fenris, Tifea has been trying to figure out where to head to next.

Moments later, the two walked into one of those off-the-map towns and located an inn in of which they planned to stay the night.

_Just one night in a bed won't hurt._

But their presence was more conspicuous than Tifea imagined. As they walked up to the innkeeper everyone in the bar glimpsed at the two new comers. Peering at their weapons and armor, the people in the inn knew that these new comers weren't your everyday travelers. And yet the girl's face seemed familiar to some of the drunkards.

Though Tifea couldn't feel the awkwardness of the people's glaring eyes, Fenris could. He's been on the run from Danarius for years, and knew the uncomfortable feeling of being watched. He knew the whole bar was looking at them with inquiry, no matter how well they tried to hide it. But now wasn't the time to ask Tifea as to why she wanted to stay here; he had to wait until they were alone. The elf then began to wonder why their presence made such a disturbance. Danarius is dead, and they were too far away from Kirkwall for them to still be in range of the Chantry's wrath.

Once paid, the innkeeper gave them the keys to their room and directed them to its location. Tifea then thanked him and the two headed up to their room.

Once in the room Tifea removed her backpack and threw it to the floor. Then she flopped onto her back into the bed, while Fenris simply walked into the room and leaned on the wall opposite of the beds.

"Yes a bed!"

Fenris then looked to her worried. "Didn't you notice the—"

"Staring? Yeah, how could you not."

Raising an eyebrow Fenris was sort of surprised by her response. "Well then why did you still decide to stay here?"

Tifea then sat up, removed her boots from her hot, worn out feet, and sat on the bed cross legged.

"Because we have been walking for days, weeks even, Fenris. We both need a rest, whether you want to admit to it or not."

Tifea then stood up off the bed, walked to the elf leaning on the wall, and looked him in the eyes. "This is a remote town. Not on the map, and not in the path of any routes or anything. We should be fine here, at least for one night."

Fenris then looked at Tifea, now understanding that she did know what she was doing. But he still felt apprehensive about their predicament. He's been doing this longer than Tifea has, and knew that her way of thinking didn't always turnout as planned. But he knew she was tired, as was he, so as to not increase her concern, he agreed to her proposition to stay the night at the inn.

"Fine we will stay here, but I want you to bring your equipment every time we leave the room."

Tifea, glared at Fenris in disgust, then let out a huge groan.

"Wwwhhhyyy?"

"Because, what if someone attacks us once we leave or if someone steals it from our room. I've been in this predicament before Tifea, I know what to expect. Besides everything is shrunk down into little pint size objects so that they can _'fit' _your backpack. It can't be that heavy to carry around."

Tifea then turned to the side and rolled her eyes to stare at him in annoyance.

"Fine… I guess so," she then looks to the ground whispered to herself, "I'm just tired of carrying stuff."

Fenris heard her entire response and smiled at her childish antics. He then lifted, and turned her head her head to kiss her on the forehead and whispered.

"After you've had your rest, well walk around the town a bit, ok?"

Tifea looked up at him, smiled, and then hugged Fenris, "thanks."

Towards the middle of the day the two left the inn to explore the village. There truly wasn't much to see but it kept them from being noticed; i.e. from just staying in the room all day. Fenris knew Tifea wanted to be alone for a bit, she seemed to have been staring off into the distance for some time, especially after he heard her whisper her sister's name in a sigh, Bethany.

After the battle in Kirkwall Bethany decided to help the mages in other Circles break away from the Chantry. She also told Tifea that she didn't want her involved in such a conflict, considering Tifea was already on the run for destruction that she created in Kirkwall. Tifea was hurt to know that she might never see her little sister again, but she honored Bethany's decision and wished her luck on her endeavor. The sisters then left Kirkwall on their separate paths only in hopes that maybe one day they might see each other again.

Fenris tried to make up an excuse to leave Tifea alone without bringing up Bethany.

"Tifea, I'll be back in a bit."

Tifea only shifted her eyes to him.

"Where are you going?"

"I may be able to find cheap supplies here, considering the surroundings. Don't fret alright; we'll meet back up at the inn before sunset."

Tifea looked towards the ground then forward.

"Hmm, ok. Just… don't be late ok."

Fenris almost heard a hint of concern in her voice, to or for what he didn't know, but he decided to not expand on her response and left to the market area of the village.

Tifea continued her walk through the town, looking at the folks sitting on the dirty ground, or wandering in the streets.

_Why does it always have to be this bad?_

Continuing her walk Tifea hears a scream from an alley way to her left. She heads to the side of the building and peers over the corner to see what was happening. A woman and her child were being mugged in the back of the alley by five highwaymen.

_It shouldn't be like this. _

Tifea then walked until she was in the middle of the entrance to the alley way, "Hey!"

The highwaymen turned their heads to see who dared to oppose them.

"It's just a girl!"

One snickered and looked, over Tifea from the ground up.

"A hot girl! Did you come to join the party? Or did you expect to get all the attention?"

Each of the highwaymen turned to Tifea and left the woman and her child alone. Tifea then grabbed the daggers from her back and prepared herself for battle.

All the highwaymen looked to each other and laughed.

"A little feisty aren't we."

"This is ganna be a lot more fun than we thought boys."

And they charged at her. Once one was in front of Tifea she hid into the shadows then backed stabbed him, the man fell to the ground and started groaning in agony.

"You still think this is going to be fun? Because I do," uttered Tifea.

When the men saw one of their own laying on the ground in pain, their play time turned into a battle.

"Damn you girl!"

"Your ganna pay for that!"

And they charged at her again. And as they charged at her, Tifea threw her confusion gas. The gas spread around the four men stunning them, giving Tifea enough time to do her charge knocking down three of the four men. Now, with them confused and on the ground, Tifea stabs each of them, in critical points on their arms and legs.

The fourth highwayman finally snaps out of confusion and sees the rest of his men on the ground. In horror, he runs from the scene hollering in fear for his life.

Tifea turns her head as she sees the man running away. She knew she had to keep a low profile so she let him run. Tifea then returned her daggers back to their sheaths on her back, then looked at the two innocent faces sitting in the same spot, frightened, just as they were at the beginning of the battle.

The woman stood with her son and looked to Tifea in fear.

"Please –"

Tifea raised her hand to stop the woman from getting the wrong idea.

"Don't worry I'm not here to hurt you." Tifea then looked down at the bodies whining in agony, "You too should leave now. Make sure you don't run into these guys again."

The woman looked to the bodies on the ground, then back up to Tifea. She then took her son's arm and ran. On her way, she passes Tifea.

"Thank you."

Once the woman was out of sight Tifea looked back down at the bodies and noticed that each of them were knocked out, maybe from blood loss. She then lifted each body, one by one, and crammed them all into the very back of the ally way. Tifea then walked out, after rubbing the blood off her clothes and left the alley.

The sun is now starting to set as Tifea started to rethink her actions. Whether attacking those men and letting one of them get away, after seeing her face, was the best choice.

_I hope Fenris is at the inn. Maybe we should have just stayed inside._

Tifea looked up from the ground and saw Fenris leaning on the wall to the inn. She smiled. She was so happy to see he was there, one of the last people she truly cared about that still stayed by her side.

"You're here." Fenris smiled then looked at her face. She looked scuffed up a bit, but not enough to make a big deal over. Then again, Tifea had been very good at making things seem less significant than they truly were. "What have you been doing?"

Tifea rolled her eyes, making 'um' and 'ah' noises, then glanced back at Fenris.

"Just walking around town. Looking at people… doing… stuff."

"Aveline's right, you aren't a very good liar."

Tifea then looked to him in annoyance; there was no point in lying.

"Well, it wasn't fare to them! I mean, these highwaymen were ganging up on the woman and I didn't think it was right. So I got rid of them… sort of."

"There is no 'sort of' in death Tifea."

"We'll… one got away and the others were beat up too badly to remember how to even talk so..."

Fenris, rolled his eyes, put his hand to his forehead, shaking his head.

_You're never discrete about these things._

"Tifea, you know—"

"I know. It just didn't seem right Fenris. I mean, not everyone can defend themselves like us. And I don't think its right to just let that go."

Fenris lifted his head, looked to Tifea and tried to sympathize with what she said. She was right, this world is filled with those who need defense but had none. But you can't help everyone, you can make a change, but you can't make it permanent.

Fenris sighed, "You are correct, but you can't help everyone Tifea."

Tifea looked to the streets, "I know."

"Come, let's go inside. I know you want to sleep in a bed tonight, or whatever."

Tifea smiled and closed her eyes as she entered the inn, with Fenris behind her, "well I hid the bodies and it was in an alley so I doubt any one saw me."

"Don't move. Champion."

The Tifea jumped back startled while Fenris started for the hilt of his weapons. It was only one man, with a strong build, wielding a crossbow aimed at Tifea.

"I said, DON'T MOVE!"

Once the door slammed behind Tifea and Fenris then the severity of the situation started to flow through the minds of the two fighters. Men started to stand from their seats, drawing their weapons, all of which were ready to fight.

"The inn is surrounded, there's no escape, Champion."

Tifea got into position, ready to fight.

"And what do you want? Do I even know you?"

"Heh! The bounty of course."

Fenris then looked to Tifea confused.

"A bounty?"

Tifea then rolled her eyes and placed her hands onto her hips.

"What bounty? Ten sovereigns? What have I done wrong that's actually worth putting me up as a bounty?"

Immediately when Tifea finished her statement every bounty hunter in the inn laughed, including their leader. He put his hand to his forehead in disbelief that his bounty didn't even know why her head was up for grabs.

"Oh, that's a good one, 'the champion' doesn't even know how much she's worth."

Fenris, still looking for an opportune moment to strike, tried to get a feel as to how extensive the situation truly was.

"Elaborate!"

The leader of the hunters glanced at the elf as he tried to put on a straight face to answer the question.

"Kirkwall and the mages. Over turning the Chantry. Steeling Tevinter property from a magister. _Killing_ a Tevinter magister. Heh, it'd be easier for me to tell the two of you what she _'wasn't'_ being put up for. Now that doesn't mean much to you elf, your worth nothing dead, and only a fraction to what the Champion is worth, alive. But the Champion, heh." The human glared back to Tifea, and saw her burning with anger. "One of the bounties said that they'd take your head for two thousand sovereigns," the leader loads his crossbow, and aims it for a direct shot into Tifea's chest. "But the Tevinters offer five thousand if we bring you back alive."

_Gasp…_

To her, the feeling was as if thousands of thin threads of water somehow dissolved though her body. Such a sensation put Tifea off balance for moment, then she heard the crushing blow of Fenris's sword on the bodies of the hunters; the battle began.

Melding into the shadows, Tifea got out of the circle and onto the back of one of the hunters. One blow to the heart and he was down. And with every blow Tifea's anger grew. Defending her sister, and all those mages because they were being blamed for the wrong things, for the wrong reasons, against a senile, blasphemous Templar, that was insane. Then, someone had the nerve to put her up as a bounty? Just so she could kill off more people, more lives that could have been spent eliminating the real criminals of the world.

_What's wrong with these idiots! Why can't they understand anything?!_

Another hunter's body dropped lifelessly to the floor. Fenris then started to realizes Tifea was moving much quicker than he assumed. From the corner of his eyes he saw that her tattoos started to glow. Was she seeing something?

Tifea finished the last of the bounty hunters with only the leader struggling on the ground to escape. As he flopped on his belly and crawled towards the door. Tifea turns her head and slowly walks to his feet. In shear fright, the leader flips to his back holding the wound on left shoulder, and pleads for mercy.

"Please! Spare me! I…I… I didn't know what I was put up against—"

"Shut up!"

Tifea grabs the man by the neck of his tunic and holds him up to her face.

"Who put the bounty on my head?! Spit it out NOW!

"I… I… I don't know." The leader shakes in fear in the hands of Tifea, but then slowly reaches into his pocket.

Tifea then pulls out one of her knives and slices a deep cut into his arm.

ARRGG!

"Liar! Who was it! Tell me now!"

As Fenris watched the scene he began to become more concerned for Tifea's sanity, she'd never normally acted this way, something was wrong. But before he could say anything about that, his eyes caught the movement of the leader's hands towards his pocket. It only took Fenris a split second to realize that he was reaching for his last weapon, a grenade. Because of magic Fenris figured that the leader probably wouldn't be too injured from the blast, but he knew the blast would surly take Tifea out, or severely injure her. He had no time, so he acted on his first impulse. From the other side of the room, Fenris charged at Tifea, and phased though her and the leader. Because the leader was stunned by the sensation his hand droped to his side, Fenris then phased his hand into the leader's neck, and solidified.

As the leader's head fell to the floor, so did his body, as Tifea released her grip on his shirt. Blood was splattered upon every inch of her face, and partially on her shoulders, but this didn't seem to trouble her. She slowly looked up at Fenris, with rage building up in every fragment of her body, as she clenched her fist.

"Why… Did you do that!"

"Tifea he was going to throw a gran—"

"I don't care what he was going to throw! Now I'll probably never know who put my head up for grabs!"

Fenris realized now there was truly something wrong with Tifea, and arguing with her, or getting her any more upset was only going to make the situation worse.

"Tifea, listen I—"

"NO! I'm not listening!"Tifea walked passed him and stood directly in front of the door. "I am going to go outside and blend in with the shadows. After I knockout one they'll turn to come and see what happened. I need you to come out and pick them all off… Understand?"

Fenris turned and looked to Tifea, worried, but a slightly relieved.

_At least she didn't lose all her senses._

Without an immediate answer Tifea became irritated, "Well!"

"Of course Tifea."

And the plan commenced. While Tifea came out and distracted the rest of the bounty hunters, Fenris knocked them down, then, in each fight, picked off the bounty hunters, one by one. After the plan was executed the two left the bloody bodies to rot.

The two walked out of the town into the forests neither looking back at the chaos they had left behind.

"We can set up camp here."

The two finally found a spot in the wilds that was pleasant enough for Tifea to rest in. A big enough clearing to set up their tent, supplies and fire, but small enough to not cause any unnecessary attention. Tifea then knelt down, removed her backpack, and looked inside for the tent. While Fenris slowly circled the clearing, making sure to keep out of Tifea's way, he looked to her, still worried.

_What's bothering her?_

Once Tifea finished setting up camp Fenris sat on one of the two logs in front of the opposite sides of the tent, while Tifea paced back and forth in the front of the camp.

"Tifea."

Tifea instantly stops her pacing and grabs her head in irritation.

"What! What is it! Can't you see that I'm—!"

"I can see; that there is something that has been annoying you all day."

"Well then why do you have to bother me about it!"

"Because this isn't the normal you!"

Tifea then walked directly in front of Fenris, glared at him the in the eyes and continued to unleash her rage on him. "Well maybe I don't feel like being normal, alright?! I'm just mad about… Something!"

Fenris stood from the log, irritated in how Tifea wasn't coming to her senses. His anger management was only slightly better than hers at the moment, considering Tifea was actually the one who helped him with this problem. The elf clenched his fists, infuriatedly glared into Tifea's eyes and yelled. "Then tell me what this 'something' is! Why is that so difficult?!"

Tifea, took a step back, and turned around. She clutched her head in anger again and as she sat down on the right side of Fenris's log, she uttered. "Because everything is so difficult… Everything is so different." She sighed and put one hand to her forehead and the other on her leg. "I just remember… that before all this started all I had to do was keep away from the Templars… the random days that they came. And now, all of Thedas is after me… I didn't think it would get this bad." She then looked to Fenris, still standing but no longer angry. "But why should I get to complain, you've been running from a whole country your whole life… I have no right to complain."

Fenris then sat to the left of Tifea and looked to the stars. "Well, it wasn't all of Tevinter, just Danarius's men." He then looked back to Tifea; her rage was burnt out, all that was left of her was despair. "Tifea, I know what it feels like to be tired of running. I want you to remember that _was_ what I did for a lot of my memorable life…before I met you."

Tifea chuckled a bit then looked to him with a light smile.

Fenris then gave her his own slight smile then looked back to the sky. "I don't want this problem to… affect you this way. If there is anything I can do to help you though this, I want you to tell me."

Tifea looked down, as a tear dropped from her eyes, then looked up into the sky.

A moment of silence passed, as the two looked into the night sky for answers. With only the sound of the crackling fire, Tifea stood from the log, still looking towards the sky.

"You know… You're right." She turned her head to face Fenris, "I want to change our destination. We're heading for Ferelden, and we're going to see Neria again."

Fenris smiled to her with a curious look. "Another Gray Warden mage Tifea?"

"Yes, but she was the one who saved us all from the Blight. And you remember what she said! We have to see her again, maybe she can help us."

Fenris stood from the log in order to stand at Tifea's side, "help us with what?"

Tifea smiled to him, "you know what. We've already set it in motion. _She's _already set it in motion." Tifea then looked into the star splattered night and grinned at the brightest, the North Star. "We're going to change Thedas. For the better."

Fenris smiled at Tifea's idea, looked to the North Star himself and put a hand on her shoulder, "yes. For the better."

Funny thing I just wanted to add.

The drowsiness of sleep eventually started to take effect on the two, so they began to prepare for bed. Tifea then sat on the ground and started looking through her back pack for her sleeping bag.

Once Fenris saw Tifea start her search in her backpack he grinned.

"Wait."

Tifea looked to him, confused and tired.

"What? I'm sleepy"

"Just wait."

Tifea then set down her backpack and turned to watch as Fenris looked through his. Probably two minutes later Fenris pulls out a small rectangular shaped object with pale patterns on it. He set it on the base of the tent, then casted the spell to allow it to expand. Tifea could only gasp, for she was without words from what she saw.

Once she finally got around to getting enough words to create a sentence she said.

"You stole the matrass from the inn? Haha that's so funny!," she then stood to hug the elf for his kind gesture, "serves that innkeeper right for selling us out. Thanks Fenris."

"You said you wanted to sleep in a bed tonight."

Tifea could only laugh again at his response.

The two then set up the bed for the night and turned out the fire. The next morning the two were planning to head for Ferelden in search of Neria, and a way in which they were going to create their change. A change that was going to affect all of Thedas, forever.


End file.
